Judge orders evaluation after defendant in abduction case in near 'catatonic' state

Hampton Police Division / Handout

Tyler Wrucke, accused in child abduction case in Hampton, didn't go to trial Friday because he wasn't talking to his attorneys and was just staring down at the defense table.

Tyler Wrucke, accused in child abduction case in Hampton, didn't go to trial Friday because he wasn't talking to his attorneys and was just staring down at the defense table. (Hampton Police Division / Handout)

Tyler Carl Wrucke was supposed to face a jury trial in Hampton Circuit Court on Friday.

He stands accused of attempting to abduct a 10-year-old girl as she walked to her bus stop in the Grandview section of the city last April.

Police say he kissed the girl on the forehead, walked hand-in-hand with her for a while and tried to get her to come with him. The girl fled after a nurse at her school saw the situation and intervened.

Tyler Carl Wrucke, 37, was taken into custody after Hampton Public Safety Communications received a call around...

That’s because instead of interacting with his lawyers, Wrucke, 38, wasn’t talking with anyone at all. He simply hunched over and stared down at the defense table, barely moving and not saying a word.

“He’s non-responsive and almost catatonic,” Circuit Court Judge David Pugh remarked as he looked down at the defendant.

A jail nurse official testified that Wrucke was apparently responsive and walking Friday morning. But after he was shuttled back to the Hampton Roads Regional Jail to change from jail garb to civilian clothes — apparently after a jail mix-up — he got totally silent and needed help walking.

As Pugh and the lawyers tried to figure out what to do, the judge said he was worried about Wrucke’s competency to stand trial. “It doesn’t appear that we are able to get through to him,” Pugh said. “I do not feel he’s competent today to assist his attorneys in the proceedings.”

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Pamela Jones said she was “concerned” that Wrucke might be “malingering.” In other words, that he could be faking his condition to avoid trial.

Wrucke’s attorneys, Assistant Public Defenders Ryan Asalone and Amanda Indorf, said after the hearing that they don’t think Wrucke is malingering because that’s something you see when defendants are facing more time. He faces six years he faces on attempted abduction and assault and battery charge.

“Faking it, absolutely not,” Indorf said. “When you see people malingering or being disruptive, that’s usually because they don’t want to be sentenced to life or death.”

Asalone said that when he visits Wrucke at the regional jail, deputies have sometimes told him that he isn’t responding — so can’t talk. But in early January, the attorney said, Wrucke was “ready to go.”

“He knows it’s in his best interest” to get the case resolved, Asalone said.

The attorney asked the judge to order that Wrucke be evaluated on an impatient basis at Eastern State Hospital — even though he was previously deemed competent. Pugh granted that motion and set a new court date for April 24.

Peter Dujardin can be reached by phone at 757-247-4749 or by email at pdujardin@dailypress.com